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Hero banners back on Broadway in Salem City, accepting new applications

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Salem County Hero Banners are back on Broadway, in Salem City. The program is now accepting applications for new banners that will go up on Market Street. (Staff Photo by Alex Young/South Jersey Times)

SALEM — As ceremonies and cookouts were taking place across the area on Memorial Day, some quiet remembrances of county veterans were going up along Broadway.

The Salem County Hero Banner program returned to Salem, with 36 utility poles adorned with the photos and names of county veterans past and present.

The banners will remain up until Veterans Day in November.

Beverly Bradbury, the Quinton resident who initiated the program a few years ago, was excited to see the banners go up for another year.

Coming from a military family, Bradbury just knew she wanted to do something to honor the heroes from her home county. She got the idea to bring the banners to Salem after seeing a similar program in Bradford County, Penn.

The banners were commissioned on a first-come-first-serve basis, and the poles along Broadway were quickly filled by people eager to shine a light on the hero that means the most to them.

But barely a week after the banners went up, Bradbury got news that means even more veterans will have the chance to be honored by a banner.

Additional space on poles down Market Street, in Salem, will feature their own hero banners as soon as the orders are taken

She wasn't sure how many additional banners will be able to fit, but Bradbury was ecstatic to see the new spaces open up.

Bradbury said sponsors can buy a banner for $200, all of which goes into printing and hanging costs. The program makes no money off of the sponsoring of banners.

The parameters for the program are pretty broad. The veteran being honored can come from any generation and can have served in any war. The only requirements that must be met are no dishonorable discharges and the vets must have a connection to Salem County.

"They can either have lived here when they served, live here now or just have family that live here," Bradbury said.

Anyone can buy a banner, and the veterans featured on them don't have to be a family member. Bradbury said that some organizations will pool money together and ask her to find a veteran to honor.

The banners will be displayed between Oak and Seventh streets until Veterans Day. When they are taken down, they will be either returned to the families or sent to the veterans' home towns for additional display.

To sponsor a banner, go to www.salemcountyhometownheroes.net and fill out the two application forms.